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Back(space)up A Moment

This is rather mundane, but an issue that another technician was unable to resolve required my assistance. The problem was that at random times while the user was typing in any Office application, the Save As dialog box would suddenly open. We also established that he was not using any special keyboard, such as the ones that turn various common commands into a single button or key-stroke paradise or 3rd party kb management software. Nope, just a plain-jane standard usb kb.

Working remote and with nothing to go on, I decide to open Process Monitor.

OK, I’m kidding.

Actually, I asked the user to compose a message while I watched. He was a fast typist but I soon noticed a trend, the Save As would open when he was correcting a typo using the backspace key. The question then became how do you invoke the Save As dialog box from keyboard? F12. Backspace happens to be right under F12 on most standard keyboards. The proximity of the Backspace key to the F12 was probably causing some debris or other electrical quirkiness against the F12 key, too, making it act as if it was being depressed each time Backspace was.

The solution, in case you haven’t caught on by now, was to replace keyboard.